Classic Board Game Which Contributed to the Birth of Warcraft – Warhammer (Part 1)
Warhammer firstly created by a British manufacturer called Games Workshop, which based in Nottingham, England. Games Workshop is known for manufacturing miniature wargames, and Warhammer series is the most significant one.
Warhammer can be divided into lines- Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K. They both have incredibly ginormous settings of the universe. Warhammer Fantasy firstly created in 1983 and had continuously expanded its universe and races and nations. Its universe is like Tolkien’s Middle Earth full of magic, swords, and wars. Here are its main races:
Lizardmen: First creations and comrades of “The Old Ones.” Although they are not good looking, they are proud of being the protector of the order of the world and would sacrifice themselves to protect the universe.
Elves: Created by The Old Ones after the Lizardmen and eventually divided into 3 branches- High Elves, Dark Elves, and Wood Elves.
Dwarfs: Created after Elves, divided to Dwarfs and Chaos Dwarfs (Still Dwarfs but worship evil powers after “Chaos” occur.)
Men: Also created by The Old Ones, have 2 major kingdoms- The Empire & Kingdom of Bretonnia.
Greenskins: A very unique race born in fungus, bigger ones become Orcs and small ones are Goblins.
Chaos: The main protagonists in the Warhammer universe, which are evil creatures from another dimension.
Skaven: Half-mouse, half-man. Countless individuals bring disease and death to the world.
The Undead: Were human at the beginning, but someone wants to be immortal and use dark magic, which eventually summoned the dead back to the world and become an undead army. Has a spin-off – Vampires.
The Ogres: Another race created by The Old Ones but soon regretted. Because they have no principle but would work with whoever can provide them tons of food (fleshes of course,) and enslave and protect Gnoblars- another race of Greenskins but excluded by the others because they are even smaller than Goblins – and consider them as preserve food…
There are still many minor races in the Warhammer universe but most of them are belonged or inhabited to one of the above or extinction. So, they won’t be listed here but may be mentioned in future articles.
Warhammer 40K has similar settings but in a really far future, which is the meaning of 40K- the story begins in Year 40,000. Some of the above races still could be seen in the universe of Warhammer 40K or altered to something alike.
Next article will talk about how Warhammer is related to Warcraft and begin to introduce the history of Warhammer Fantasy first, so, Warhammer 40K won’t be mentioned for a very long time, even though, it is more famous now because it’s newer and easier to understand how to play.
To be continued…